8:30 am

Finally! We arrived in Athens late last night after a delayed flight and missed connection. The airport was our first taste of Greek culture. A whole group of young people were waiting for their bags. They are beautiful! Animated, talkative, free moving, prone to laughter. The language is luscious, musical. It sounds like Italian to me only without the Latin feel. The teens were simply dressed in jeans, all dark-haired, dark-eyed with dramatic faces and smiling teeth and eyes. The Greek nose! They touch each other with friendly affection. One girl cupped her hand behind her friends’ heads as she talked to them, her face close to theirs. They stand very close to each other and walk right in front of you. We Americans who like our “personal bubble” of space, move out of the way.

Great joy from a girl and her friends when a large, tangerine orange suitcase appeared! Our own bags came last, to our relief.

I saw my first priest/monk in a long, black cassock. Another, with hat, was there to greet him.

This morning a short walk towards the Acropolis. We caught a glimpse only. Ancient ruins in the middle of an urban center.

[That’s me in the picture above, happy to be en route for Nick’s and my 20th anniversary trip to Greece and Turkey. The entries in this blog are from my travel journal. A few clarifying comments in brackets were added as I typed it up. Most of the photographs are our own. A few pictures of icons and interiors I grabbed off the ‘net as we were seldom allowed to use our camera inside churches and museums.]

2 pm

Saw four churches (only) on the way to the port for our cruise of the Greek Isles. The first was a tiny ruin in town. There was a nicer chapel in a suburban area, then two large churches (St. Simeon, St. Nicholas?) in Piraeus.

We’ve spent the day so far getting checked in and all our excursions and shipboard bureaucracy taken care of. Mykonos this evening.

8 pm

Tour of Mykonos town. Charming white and ocean blue white-washed houses, shops, and chapels. We wound through the maze of streets and alleys looking for chapels. They are thick on the ground here, about one every 50 feet! Some were open and we went inside. Candles were burning and in two there was incense. The iconostases are very ornate. Surprisingly many of the icons are Russian style, not Byzantine. We found the side-by-side Catholic and Orthodox “cathedrals.” The Catholic was very spartan, although it had a handful of icons to venerate. The Orthodox was totally covered with icon frescoes on walls and ceilings, ornate wood carvings, and icons everywhere. There was a particularly nice Theophany.

At the church of St. Barbara, a man was fussing about and frequently venerating icons. This church and the cathedral were the two places with incense burning. It had a holier feel to it. I think churches that are cared for care back for their people. One wonders what it would be like to live in a place with a church or chapel literally on every corner. But the culture clash is incredible. There are shops ($$$$!) and open air tavernas intermixed with the churches, so that the churches take a definite backseat. They are silent and innocuous among the tourist noise, bustle, and money. It’s clear what is most attractive, to visitors and to the locals who provide for them.

Currently we sit in a taverna/cafe by the sea looking across the bay at the hill-hanging (not quite cliff-hanging) white-washed, boxy, Mediterranean buildings. We ate Mykonos bread with tomatoes, cheese (a soft, white pungent cheese), lots of olive oil and herbs. The bread was hard but perfect to soak up the oil. I ate the three olives garnishing the plate — the best olives I have ever tasted! I am drinking a sage tea which could become addicting. Nick is reading Plato, The Republic. Nick and I have not got into any political discussions, only arguing about which way to go in the wandering streets of Mykonos. The sun is setting. Soon we will return to the boat for blessed sleep.